THE GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF COBB BROILERS AS AFFECTED BY DIFFERENT LEVELS OF VEGETABLE FERN (Diplazium esculentum) LEAF MEAL ADDED TO COMMERCIAL RATION

The study was conducted to determine the effects of different levels of Vegetable fern (Diplazium esculentum) leaf meal added to commercial ration on the growth performance of Cobb broilers. Parameters measured were feed consumption, live weight gain, feed conversion efficiency, mortality rate, and income over feed and chick cost using 36-day-old broiler chicken, which was conducted at Poultry Project of College of Agriculture, Mindanao State University-General Santos City from February 04 to March 09,2020. The study was laid out in Completely Randomized Design. 36-day-old chicks were assigned in three treatments each replicated three times. Birds fed with 10% VFLM had the highest feed consumption of (3.00 kg) followed by feed without VFLM consumed (2.66 kg), while birds fed with 5% VFLM consumed (2.51 kg); The highest live weight gain in birds fed commercial ration with a live weight gain of(1.58 kg) followed by birds fed with 5% VFLM weight(1.48 kg) and lowest were those fed with 10% VFLM with the live weight gain of (1.45 kg). Birds given pure booster mash required the smallest amount of feed to produce a unit of live weight gain. The highest IOFCC of Php 43.00 was obtained from birds without VFLM. While birds in 5% and 10% VFLM in their ration had Php 39.88 and Php 20.95, respectively.